Drop Ceiling
 

My new HT room will have a drop ceiling (there are just too many pipes and valves to re-route if I were to close it up).

Ascetics aside, is this a blessing or a curse acoustically? I will be using 2x2 acoustic panels. Is a GIK 'cloud' still a nice idea for the first reflection point?

Glenn, have you seen this done with your panels? Mounting ideas?

Thanks,

Karl

Karl... what is your finished ceiling height?

8.5'

Low, but there's only so much one can do in old house basements. :)

Karl, it is a blessing. You can add absorptive acoustic tiles in pre-made 2' by 2' size that drop right in. You can knock out first reflection point and just enough absorption to the room. I went "finished" and have regretted it ever since.

I went finished with no regrets. :dunno:

I had dropped ceiling in the first theater I built in our Kansas City house.

Dropped ceiling PRO's:
The extra absorption meant I didn't need as much side wall treatment and no additional ceiling treatment.
The low frequency bass peaks were not as audible and overall the room was flatter.
Very easy to run wires!

Dropped ceiling CON's:
At certain frequencies the ceiling would "light up" and vibrate like hell. I added weight to the backs of the panels and tried different panel materials and configurations. I was able to reduce the effect but not eliminate it completely. This was with a standard residential grid suspension system.

Tom

Sorry about the delay on writing back... We do A LOT of rooms with drop in ceiling tiles. Our panels are standard size 2'x2', but we can make them 23.75"x23.75" as that is most standard size tiles. These can be either the Spot panels or the 242 panels.